DZ Bank hired Howard O'Brien out of ING Financial as v.p., senior due diligence officer, says Ken Bradt, head of the New York-based asset securitization group. O'Brien's function is to mitigate risk and to assist the securitization transactors in auditing the collateral for conduit or term asset-backed securities deals the bank underwrites to ensure the receivables satisfy the criteria imposed by rating agencies, monolines insuring the bonds or lenders. At ING, O'Brien was also in charge of due diligence, reporting to John Costa, managing director and head of the securitization group. Calls to Costa were referred to ING's spokeswoman Elaine Clark, who declined to comment on O'Brien's eventual replacement.
The function has gained importance in the asset-backed finance arena since the National Century fraud, as structurers of ABS transactions want to make sure that the receivables backing their deals are "real," says Bradt. O'Brien started three weeks ago. He reports to Bradt and to Jennifer Wilkoff, head of due diligence. The position is a newly created one, adds Bradt, who has recently beefed up his asset-backed finance team with the hire of an ABS salesman (BW, 2/3) and a junior ABS analyst.
